A Spanish court on Friday overturned the conviction of former Brazilian and Barcelona star soccer player Dani Alves for sexual assault.

He was sentenced to four years and six months in prison in February 2024 after being found guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub.

He was released from prison in March 2024 pending his appeal. 

But the top court in Spain's Catalonia region said the original ruling presented "inconsistencies and contradictions."

"Dani Alves is very happy. He is innocent, that is demonstrated. Justice has spoken," Ines Guardiola, Alves' lawyer, told RAC1 radio.

In its ruling overturning the lower court's verdict, the Catalan high court said the alleged victim's testimony lacked credibility when referring to facts that could be verified through video recordings.

According to the ruling, this "explicitly indicated that what she recounted does not correspond to reality." 

"The inadequacies of the evidence lead to the conclusion that the standard required by the presumption of innocence has not been met," it said, noting "a series of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions concerning the facts, the legal assessment and its consequences".

The four judges at the Barcelona-based appeals court unanimously ruled to overturn the conviction.

Alves' trial was the first high-profile case since Spain overhauled its laws in 2022 to make lack of consent central to defining a sex crime.

The change in law came as a result of numerous protests following a gang-rape case during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona in 2016.

The legislation, popularly known as the "only yes means yes" law, defines consent as an explicit expression of a person's will, making it clear that silence or passivity do not grant consent.

Edited by Sean Sinico